LEARNING CURVE ON BEING A DUCK FAN

A VooDoo Mask Made Of Duck Bones Sends The Wrong Message.

via reuters

Too often the current ‘golden boy’ in sports can’t take a rub.

Rub too hard and you’ll see what’s underneath, like Johnny Football and Jameis Winston.

Do the same with Marcus Mariota and he just gets more shine.

Today he faces his biggest challenge of college football.

He faces a team known for winning, for doing anything to win, and he knows it.

As a Heisman Trophy winner, along with the rest of the awards for football greatness, he’s been facing challenges all along but no one cared more than Oregon fans.

Mariota has a fan base that wants to remember him as he is, not what he’ll become after running the NFL gauntlet.

Right now he’s perfect. No missteps of note. You’d trust him with your kids, your money, and your car. If he got a ticket you’d insist on paying.

Sports fans like their favorites when they seem like normal guys. Joe Montana was special on the field, then disappeared for a decade.

Troy Aikman was an unsung great, if Super Bowl wins and a Hall of Fame career are unsung. He’s not ranked with the best of the best, though from Joe Buck’s steady gaze in the game booth he’s got at least one fan for life.

Mariota is a transcendent player on a team redefining what team means.

He doesn’t need our help, but the team does. What to do? What not to do is make a duck bone mask. Do that and risk lifelong shame.

What can you do to cover the fan bases?

Let’s look to the SEC, the greatest conference in college football, the winningest winners in the land.

Take their location. Call it The South, The Sunbelt, or The Bible Belt.

Let’s focus on The Bible Belt.

It’s no secret the south is devout. They are believers of the highest degree. God, Football, Family, Country believers not always in that order.

What our friends and neighbors in the Great Northwest don’t always remember is the power of the Bible.

A region on the same wavelength is a source of power. Add God and Football together and you get the mighty SEC.

When you play teams from the Bible Belt, you’ve got to punch back.

Ohio State Urban Meyer, he who is named after a Pope, coached SEC’s Florida to two titles. His intention is turning Ohio State and the Big Ten into the SEC North.

That means faith and power in the same football bag.

For the rest of us it means breaking out the Bible for Oregon. Face faith with stronger faith.

Hopes and prayers make a difference everywhere else, why not in the College Football Playoff Championship Game?

Hold the Good Book in your hands during the game. Keep it on your lap.

You know the other side thinks they’ve got all the blessings? They don’t.

Let the sun shine on the Oregon Ducks. Win or lose, give thanks for the game in Texas.